It’s always hard to do a book review without giving away the entire plot or sharing too many spoilers, but I hope that this review of Her Empty Chair by Sunna Coleman gives you enough of a taste to want to get your own copy and find out what happens.
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She left without a trace… not even a crumb.
For student and waitress, Sylvia Morelle, it’s just another day at the French café in Covent Garden – that is, until her beloved elderly regular, Mrs Ida Laine, mysteriously disappears. As weeks go by with no sign of the glamorous Parisian, the young journalist in training begins her own investigation, only to unearth far more than she could ever have imagined.
Where is Ida Laine? And what is she running from?
Is it cheating to tell you right at the start of a review that I REALLY enjoyed this book? Apologies if that’s the wrong way round to do things. But it’s my blog so I guess you just need to move on and read on…
Our one of two main characters is worried. Sylvia, a final year student journalist, has noticed that her favourite customer, Ida, an elegant older French lady, has not been coming into the cafe where Sylvia works, having been a regular visitor.
Sylvia’s intrinsic curiosity and worry about Ida leads her to try and find her, with some very surprising results and not the answers she ever expected.
Without giving the entire storyline away, and spoiling it all, there is a good ending to this, and you find out why Ida has disappeared and what her real connection to Sylvia is, and there is definitely a rollercoaster ride of plot and emotions until things become clear for Sylvia and she learns who she is and about a life she didn’t know about. The people she meets and who come into her life through Ida’s disappearance and the journey to find her bring Sylvia to a new place and also a better sense of who SHE is.
Her Empty Chair is, without seeming cheesy and cliche, a real heart warmer and the ending is both good and satisfying, after you have walked with Sylvia as she works out the mystery of Ida and who she is and why she vanished from her regular routine.
I would definitely recommend this wonderful first book from Sunna Coleman. It’s a perfect mix of lighter reading but also a storyline you want to stick to, to the end to find out what happens and if the end is what you expected or not.
Available here and I promise you won’t be disappointed.